A Hackney couple are flying out to America on Tuesday (October 25) to embark on a gruelling six-month trek across the country to raise money for charity.

Husband and wife team Nick and Lucy Russell will walk the 3,000 miles from Savannah, in the eastern seaboard state of Georgia, to San Diego, on the west coast of California.

Mr Russell, 25, said the sponsored trek will raise money for the Pamir Trust - a charity the couple founded to support remote communities in the poverty-stricken Pamir mountain region of Tajikistan, after the couple holidayed there in 2009.

He added: “We thought this would be a good way to see America, because we won’t just be in the touristy places, and we’ll be able to raise money for charity at the same time.

“We’ve been training by walking to work in central London and doing a 20-mile walk most weekends, which takes us about seven and a half hours. So we’re going to look at the walking as if it’s a day job.”

The couple, of Finsbury Park Road, Finsbury Park, aim to cover 20 miles a day for five days a week, which will mean the epic journey will take about six months.

Civil servant Mr Russell and charity worker Mrs Russell, also 25, have both been given time off from their jobs to allow them to carry out the feat.

The couple hope to raise �15,000, and have raised just under �1,630 so far. They won’t have a support car, so will have to carry all their supplies in their backpacks.

To follow the Russells’ journey, or to sponsor them, visit www.walkamerica.co.uk.